Pranayama

In simple terms pranayama may be called the control of the breath. Its essence lies in the modification of our normal process of breathing. Breathing is an act in which we take air from the atmosphere into our lungs, absorb the oxygen from it into our blood, and expel the air again into the atmosphere together with carbon-di-oxide end water vapour. This act of inhalation and exhalation is repeated every four to five seconds. Thus normally we breathe about fifteen times every minute, each time taking about 500 ml. of air into the lungs. So we inhale and exhale approximately seven liters of air per minute. Every modification of this normal breathing process would not count as pranayama. The normal breathing pattern shows marked changes under various conditions. For instance, while we are lifting or carrying loads, walking uphill, running, or doing any physical exercise we breathe more rapidly and more forcefully. At high altitudes, in a rarefied atmosphere our breathing becomes heavy. Its pattern changes with emotional excitement and in the case of disorders such as asthma, tuberculosis, bronchitis and other lung affections. Modification of breathing under these conditions is brought about involuntarily and perhaps without awareness of it unless there is difficulty in breathing. In fact we are hardly ever aware of the fact that we are breathing.

Pranayama consists of modifications of the breathing process which we bring about deliberately and consciously. We can modify breathing in three different ways:

1. By inhaling and exhaling rapidly, taking shallow breaths.

2. By inhaling and exhaling slowly, taking long or deep breaths.

3. By stopping the act of breathing altogether.

The first way of modifying breathing is not usually included in pranayama proper, although it is sometimes closely associated with it. The second and third ways mentioned above do belong to the domain of pranayama. In fact, pranayama practice may very well be summarized in these two ways.

There is one more condition to be fulfilled if any breathing modification is to be called pranayama. That is regarding the posture. Pranayama is practiced in a sitting posture. There are about half a dozen postures available for this purpose. They are called meditation postures, because they are very suitable for meditation. The most renowned among them is Siddhasana. The simplest and most comfortable and less strenuous is Swastikasana. Padmasana is the one which is most recommended traditionally for pranayama. We shall describe these postures in detail in a later chapter. It may be enough to mention here that pranayamais defined by Patanjali as a modification of breathing in a sitting posture which is steady and comfortable. Such a posture is an essential part of pranayama.

Thus pranayama is a complex act in which after assuming a suitable posture the student inhales and exhales slowly, deeply, and completely, and also stops the breath. Inhalation in pranayama is called parka, which literally means ‘the act of filling’; Exhalation is called recheck, meaning ‘the act of emptying'. Retention of breath is called kumbhaka Kumbha means a water pot. Just as a water pot holds water when it is filled with it, so in kumbhaka the breath is held after filling the lungs.